Lufkin woman accused of leaving toddler home alone

LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) - Lufkin Police have arrested a woman on a charge of abandoning a child after an officer noticed the toddler crying from inside the home early Monday morning.

Ashley Nicole Montgomery, 22, of Lufkin, is charged with abandoning a child.

According to the arrest report, the officer was walking in the 100 block of Percy Simond Street around 1:15 a.m. when he heard the sounds of a child crying coming from within a residence. Neighbors told the officer that Montgomery had left the residence about 30 minutes earlier and that the child was probably her 17-month-old child.

The officer knocked on the door and nobody answered, so he then located an unlocked window and called the child to him. Once the child was outside the residence, another officer went inside through the window to look for anyone else. Nobody else was inside, according to the report.

With the help of neighbors, the officers called Montgomery on the phone and she returned around 2 a.m. She claimed first that someone else was supposed to be watching the child, but that person told police that she called him from her vehicle to watch the child, and when he arrived he noticed the door was locked so he assumed she took the child with her and left, according to the report. She also told officers she was only gone five minutes, but officers knew she was gone at least 30 minutes.

Officers arrested Montgomery and, at the direction of Child Protective Services, released the child to a member of Montgomery's household.